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Plumbing in the Region |
By 1940, a majority of houses in the Calumet region had a private bath and toilet. However, in heavily industrial towns such as East Chicago and Gary, as many as one in five families did not have a private bathroom. Variations existed because the housing stock differed from city to city. Three factors affected rates of modern plumbing in the various cities of the region: the types of structures in a community, the age of the structures, and the percentage of home ownership.
The heavily industrial cities of Gary, East Chicago and Chicago Heights had higher percentages of two- and three-story, multiple-family dwelling units. In some cases, these structures were old and in disrepair. Whether houses were new or old, inadequate water pressure made multiple-story buildings difficult to plumb. In all cases tenant occupied residences were less likely to have private plumbing. Only around 70% of tenant occupied buildings had private plumbing compared to 80% of the owner occupied buildings.